CHENNAI, India — Allison Transmission, a supplier of commercial duty fully automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems, broke ground this week on a new India facility designed to meet the growing global demand for Allison automatic transmissions.
Once construction of the more than 203,000-square-foot manufacturing plant is completed, which is expected to occur in early 2010, it will also serve as the Allison Transmission India Pvt. Ltd. regional headquarters with executive, marketing and sales offices. In addition, the facilities are designed for warehousing and customization.
"We believe it is important to strengthen our local presence in India to support our growing in-country operations," said Allison Transmission, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Dewey. "I am extremely proud of the milestone this groundbreaking represents, and thankful to the Tamil Nadu government for its enthusiastic support."
India is an important market for Allison Transmission as it is the world’s fourth largest economy, and is the fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world. Allison’s investment in India comes at a time when global demand for the company’s fully automatic transmissions continues to increase, the company said.
"We conducted an extensive and lengthy search before we settled on an area in which to build our India facility," said Ram Amarnath, managing director of Allison Transmission India Pvt. Ltd. "And we found the right mix of location and a talented, world class employment pool in Chennai."
Key local management staff in the areas of operations, purchasing, human resources and sales personnel are already in place. Other employees will join the team later this year. And when the new facility is completed, more than 300 employees will be added to the Allison Transmission India Pvt. Ltd’s payroll.
As with all its operations — whether in North America, Latin America, Europe, or Asia — delivering on the Allison Brand Promise of an automatic experience with an unrivalled combination of Quality, reliability, vocational value, and Customer Service is of paramount importance.
Allison’s association with India goes back more than 40 years when it began serving the country’s mining and oil field industries. In 2007, Allison established permanent offices in India, operating under the name of Allison Transmission India Pvt. Ltd. to realize growth opportunities in the on-highway market. In recent years, Allison Transmission’s growth in India has been propelled by fitting automatics into low-floor CNG and diesel buses in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Nagpur and other Indian cities. There are now nearly 1,000 on-highway trucks and buses operating in India, which are fitted with Allison Transmissions. Major OEM customers include Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, JCBL and Lexia Motors. In fact, Allison recently concluded a contract to supply Tata Motors with fully automatic transmissions for low-floor, state-of-the-art, CNG-propelled buses to serve Delhi Transport Corp.
